The grand ballroom of the Emerald Palace, entirely stripped of its delicate silken banners and crystal chandeliers, had been transformed into a cavernous, highly efficient military command centre. The atmosphere within the massive circular chamber was thick with an oppressive, suffocating tension. A sprawling map of the continent blanketed the central oak table, but the eyes of every monarch and general were fixed firmly on the vast, terrifyingly empty blue space representing the uncharted eastern ocean.
King Jaren leaned heavily over the table, his dark green steel armour glinting in the flickering candlelight. Beside him stood Queen Dora, her sharp blue eyes rapidly calculating the grim logistics of a naval invasion.
